What is CFA®?

Chartered Financial Analyst® is a mark of excellence in the finance world. With almost six decades of history, the CFA® Charter is the most recognized credential in the investment sphere. It is the most desirable and now an essential certification by many employers all over the world. The CFA® curriculum equips the successful candidates with the most required skills in the global finance industry.

Who is it for?

The CFA® Certification will be a game-changer for someone who is:

Working in finance and wants to climb up the success ladder Willing to switch career to finance but doesn’t know where to start A Student who has a plethora of options to choose from
Develop your skills and enhance your professional status and skills Give those expensive degrees a ditch! Break into finance with CFA as this is the most sought after certification in the finance world. Start early and acquire the in-demand skills to succeed in finance.

5 Steps for becoming a CFA® Charterholder

To qualify for the CFA® Program, you should:

1. You must have a bachelor’s (or equivalent) degree or your CFA Level I exam must be within 23 months of your graduation month (i.e  B.Com, BBA students can take CFA Level I exam in Second Year of Graduation, Start Preparing in the First Year).

OR

2. You may fulfill the entrance requirements with 4,000 hours of qualified, professional work experience or a combination of work experience and education that is accrued over a minimum of 36 months. To qualify under the combination requirement, the dates of education and professional work experience cannot be overlapping.

Follow these two steps:

STEP 1: Register for the CFA® Exam on www.cfainstitute.org through a very easy process.

STEP 2: Schedule for the Exam on (Pick a date , time and location) on CFAI/ Pro-metric Portal.

If you need any help before, during or after registration, just walk into one of the FinTree centers or call us.

We are happy to help regardless of whether you’re a FinTree student or not.

Let FinTree take care of this one!!

We will be with you at every step of your CFA® journey.

Live Classes (In Person or Online), Dedicated doubt clearing session (with Utkarsh Jain, CFA), Videos on Demand, Weekly Test, Mock Exams, Notes etc

Trust us! We have your back!

FinTree is a CFA Institute Prep Provider, you can check our listing here.

Take the three exams from anywhere in the world (Passport mandatory).

Starting from the February 2024 exam, Level I candidates will need to fulfill the Practical Skills Modules (PSM) requirement.

You have the flexibility to select a PSM topic (Python/ Financial Modelling) at any point during your exam preparation period, but it must be completed before the exam results are announced.

Each PSM typically requires 10-15 hours of study time.

The CFA Institute will supply the necessary study materials for the PSM.

To become a CFA® Charterholder, you must:

  1. Agree to follow the CFA Institute Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct.
  2. Pass the CFA Program exams for Levels I, II, and III.
  3. Have 3 years of qualified work experience (Investment Related, Call us if you need any help).
  4. Become a regular member of CFA Institute and apply for membership in a CFA member society.

So what are the Levels all about?

The exam consists of 180 questions, divided equally into two sessions, 2 hours and 15 minutes each.

Level I
What is it all about? CFA® Level 1 is focused on basic knowledge of the topics and simple analysis using investment tools.
What is the exam pattern? Level I is a MCQ based Exam:

  1. No Negative Marking.
  2. No Pre-Set Minimum Passing Marks
When? Four times a year in February, May, August and November
FinTree Tip

CFA Exam style is going to be unlike any other exams you have taken

  1. Attend live CFA Classes/ Watch on demand videos, work on your concepts!
  2. Practice questions
  3. Practice more questions
CFA® Level I Exam at a glance
Topic Exam weigh (%)
Ethical and Professional Standards 15 to 20
Quantitative Methods 8 to 12
Economics 8 to 12
Financial Statement Analysis 13 to 17
Corporate Issuers 8 to 12
Equity Investments 10 to 12
Fixed Income 10 to 12
Derivatives 5 to 8
Alternative Investments 5 to 8
Portfolio Management 5 to 8

Again MCQ based exams, but this time in a case study (vignettes format).

Level II
What is it all about? CFA® Level II is focused on the application of investment tools and valuation techniques for all types of assets.
What is the exam pattern?
  1. The exam consists of 22 case studies, divided equally into two sessions.
  2. Each case study is followed by 4 MCQs
  3. Each Session is 2 hours 12 mins each
When? Exam is typically three times a year, May, August and November
FinTree Tip

Level II exams are tricky business! You need to be conceptually strong, like very strong!

And you need to learn to apply concepts in real life-like scenarios! How? We’ll see this inside the prep course!

CFA® Level II Exam at a glance
Topic Exam weight (%)
Ethical and Professional Standards 10 to 15
Quantitative Methods 5 to 10
Economics 5 to 10
Financial Reporting and Analysis 10 to 15
Corporate Finance 5 to 10
Equity Investments 10 to 15
Fixed Income 10 to 15
Derivatives 5 to 10
Alternative Investments 5 to 10
Portfolio Management 10 to 15

Level III requires completely different skills as compared to previous two levels. Candidates say that It feels almost like a different course all together.

Level III
What is it all about? CFA® Level III focuses on synthesizing all the concepts and analytical methods in a variety of applications for effective portfolio management and wealth planning.
What is the exam pattern?
  1. Exam is conducted in two sessions (on the same day).
  2. Each session is 2 hours and 12 minutes.
  3. Each session will have 11 vignettes (case studies), about half of them will be followed by 4 MCQ questions and remaining half will require you type your constructed responses (brief solution to a given problem).
When? Twice a year, February and August.
FinTree Tip

Essay section in the morning is a completely different ball game. You need to learn to articulate your thoughts and put them on paper within given time.

Most importantly, learn to write what they want you to write.

CFA® Level III Exam at a glance
Topic Exam weight (%)
Ethical and Professional Standards 10 to 15
Quantitative Methods 0
Economics 5 to 10
Financial Reporting and Analysis 0
Corporate Finance 0
Equity Investments 10 to 15
Fixed Income 15 to 20
Derivatives 5 to 10
Alternative Investments 5 to 10
Portfolio Management and Wealth Planning 35 to 40

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